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Westgate Supercontest already at 1,700 entries

College football officially began with two Mountain West Conference matchups, but if truth be told it really culminated with the two-day SuperContest signings at Westgate.

The annual pilgrimage to the side entrance just across the street from the Las Vegas Country Club is a meeting place for the Who’s-Who of handicappers nationwide or those who believe they are. And the Pied Piper, Jay Kornegay, along with his merry men and women receive the procession with grace, professionalism and VSiN for all.

Amal Shal, Matt Youmans, Kenny White, Josh Towers, Jonathan Von Tobel, producer Brian Rogers and a cast of hundreds (as in dollars) set up house away from South Point to share information about ways to prepare for the contests. Actually, there are two, but the $5,000 SuperContest Gold entry for the upper crust is more of a Pros vs. Pros battle as opposed to the popular $1,500 model that already is ahead of last year’s pace at over 1,700 entries.

Last year’s winner received a large (and I do mean oversized) check for $1,327,284. Our bet is it will be higher this year. Then there were the proxy people, like GT’s own Andy Iskoe, who make a nice chump of change being the go-betweens for out-of-state entrants who couldn’t make the trip to Crapsville.

By the way, the tables change midday from $5 to $10. I know, I was there.

“We are about 300 entries above last year’s pace and SuperContest Gold is way beyond that,” Kornegay said. “The Supreme Court decision certainly has a positive impact on us as people are being introduced to sports gaming.”

The SuperContest for several years had a Friday seminar with many of the top handicappers giving out their picks and strategies but that changed with VSiN’s arrival.

“Live radio across the country reaches a greater demographic than the seminar,” Kornegay said. “We get a lot of positive feedback from this new format. It’s good that by their choosing that ESPN views us as the market leader using our odds.”

As for the first full week of college football this Saturday there is a nice assortment of games with possible national championship implications like Michigan-Notre Dame, Miami-LSU, Virginia Tech-Florida State, Washington-Auburn, UNLV-USC. Just kidding on that last one although getting 25.5 points at last glance does peak our interest.

Then there are a number of what I will call second tier matchups involving teams under the radar looking to score big with the BCS against the elites. They include Louisville taking on No. 1 Alabama, Boise State-Troy, Appalachian State-Penn State, San Diego State-Stanford, Oregon State-Ohio State, Florida Atlantic-Oklahoma, WVa.-Tennessee.

We’re not really interested in testing the betting waters against most of those openers. No, we want to post against the spread victories and gain respect with our readers. A win is a win wherever you can find it and money in your pocket is the name of our game.

So without further ado, here’s eight that me, myself and I hope will be enough.

San Diego St. +15.5 at Stanford: A chance for Heisman favorite Bryson Love to run wild and gain revenge over last year’s stunning loss in San Diego to the Aztecs. STANFORD

Army +13.5 at Duke: Perception is everything. If this were Navy and not Army, no way would the Blue Devils be a two-touchdown favorite. BEST BET: ARMY

W. Virginia -10 at Tennessee: I know, word is Tennessee is middle ground of the SEC East. Still, getting 10 in Neyland Stadium and hearing Rocky Top the entire game works for us. TENNESSEE

N. Carolina +7.5 at California: That hook has us on the side of the Tar Heels in a much improved ACC. N. CAROLINA

Bowling Green +30.5 at Oregon: The Mighty MAC ducks nobody. Speaking of Ducks, the first touchdown just happened. OREGON

Va. Tech +6.5 at Florida St.: New regime in Tallahassee with a new head coach and early QB controversy. Always like taking the opportunistic Hokies on the road at this number. VA. TECH

Coastal Carolina +29.5 at S. Carolina: The Gamecocks scheduled their cousins for a reason: to show Georgia what they bring to the table the following Saturday in Columbia. S. CAROLINA

UNLV +26.5 at USC: Common sense would say Trojans in a big way, but Sam Darnold is gone and maybe Tony Sanchez has his best Rebels team to date. A good first quarter would sure help. UNLV

Encore: Appalachian St, which won at Michigan a few years back, won’t be awed at Happy Valley and Penn State without Saquon Barkley.